David Cameron faces guerrilla war with Conservative MPs over Europe

David Cameron faces a gruelling series of parliamentary showdowns with
Eurosceptic Conservative MPs over increases to the European Union's budget
and changes to Britain's extradition laws.

David Cameron faces a gruelling series of parliamentary showdowns with Eurosceptic Conservative MPs over increases to the European Union's budget and changes to Britain's extradition laws.Photo: REUTERS

The clashes, in the wake of last week's rebellion by 81 Conservative backbenchers in a vote on a referendum on leaving the EU, are likely to continue for several months.

They risk embroiling the Prime Minister in a guerrilla war over Europe similar to John Major's battle to get the Maastricht treaty into law in the face of Tory revolts in the 1990s.

There were clear signs this weekend that Mr Cameron is ready to offer olive branches to last week's rebels after he was criticised for making the referendum vote a trial of strength by imposing a three-line whip – effectively ordering all Tory MPs to back the government.

Government sources have also confirmed that Whitehall officials have launched reviews of key policy areas where Britain could attempt to claw back powers from Brussels in future negotiations.

However, Eurosceptic MPs were unwilling to compromise. One said: "The mood has changed. People are getting a taste for revolt and their blood is up.

"The 81 MPs who stood up to Cameron are getting fan mail. A lot more could decide to join them next time."

The first showdown is set for next week – when MPs will debate for the first time moves to increase the EU's budget in the seven year-period covering 2014-2020 to one trillion euros (£898bn) – an increase of around five per cent from the previous period of 2007-2013.

It could be one of the only opportunities MPs get to vote on the issue before it is formally agreed by the government some time next year.

Britain, France and Germany all say the increase proposed by the European Commission is "unacceptably" high.

MPs will vote on a government motion which supports ministers' "ongoing efforts to reduce the commission's proposed budget" – but it is likely Tory MPs will table amendments calling for harsher action, possibly including a demand for Britain to use its veto to block the increase.

Philip Hollobone, one of the 81 referendum rebels last week, said: "Many backbenchers think that the seven-year EU budget is a very good opportunity for the government to use its veto if it does not get what it wants."

Another of the Tory rebels, Chris Heaton-Harris, said: "Voters realise that if the EU's budget goes up at a time when national governments are imposing cuts, then something is going wrong."

Mr Cameron also faces the possibility, at some stage over the next two months, of a separate Commons vote on Britain's contribution's to next year's annual EU budget, which MEPs want to rise by £5.7 billion – an increase of 5.23 per cent which would cost British taxpayers an extra £834 million.

Again, the British government is fighting moves for such a large increase – but on this occasion it cannot employ a veto and will only succeed if it wins enough support from other member states.

A debate on this year's increase in UK funding of the EU saw 38 Tory MPs defy the party whips a year ago – after parliament's European Scrutiny Committee demanded a vote on the issue.

In a further development, another of last Monday's Tory referendum rebels, Dominic Raab, will on Tuesday attempt to win a full Commons debate on his proposals for shaking up Britain's extradition laws, including the controversial European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

Mr Raab wants ministers to change the law, strengthening the protection of British citizens, after the last Labour government signed the UK up to agreements both with the EU and US that strip courts here of almost all discretion, according to his supporters.

The US extradition agreement has seen Gary McKinnon, an Asperger's sufferer, face decades in an American jail after he hacked into top-secret US security computers in search of evidence of UFOs.

The EAW, meanwhile, allows fast-track extradition on the assumption that standards of justice are adequate across Europe.

Mr Raab, whose motion is backed by Keith Vaz, the former Labour Europe minister, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the ex-Liberal Democrat leader, wants cases to be heard in Britain.

Mr Raab said: "We need stronger safeguards to protect our citizens from abusive and arbitrary fast-track extradition. Parliament should have an opportunity to debate the matter and influence the direction of government policy."